


tell me how all this (and love too) will ruin us

by Tomene



Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: First Kiss, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Making Out, Pining, Practice Kissing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-03
Updated: 2020-08-03
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:07:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,649
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25691050
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tomene/pseuds/Tomene
Summary: Spencer asks Derek to kiss him, for educational purposes, of course.
Relationships: Derek Morgan/Spencer Reid
Comments: 9
Kudos: 87





	tell me how all this (and love too) will ruin us

It was a rough case and they'd almost been too late. The unsub nearly killed the girl, but Spencer, his boy genius, had managed to outsmart him.

The girl got to go home safe to her family, but Derek could still see the look of defeat in Spencer's eyes when they saw how broken she seemed in the back of the ambulance.

So, Derek offers to drive Spencer home, and, when they get there, he decides it would be better to stay with the kid, try to get his mind off things.

When Derek steps into the house after him, Spencer doesn't even blink. The kid was used to Derek staying with him after hard cases, he never even had to ask if he could come in, it was already presumed that he would.

Now, in the quiet kitchen, Derek quietly observes as Spencer stares off into space, completely oblivious to the rumbling of the teapot.

“Hey, kid”

Spencer jumps, startled.

“Sorry, I got lost in my head.”

Derek tries to give him a reassuring smile as he grabs his cup of tea, but he can’t hide his worry, he always watches Spencer closely, looking for any signs that something could be wrong with his pretty boy.

“Let’s watch a movie.” Derek says, suddenly.

“What?” Spencer looks confused. When Derek comes over after a case they usually just drink something and sit around the table talking.

“Let’s watch a movie. Something funny, come on!” Derek points to the bedroom, where he knows Spencer has a TV.

Spencer raises an inquisitive brow, he’s going to argue, say no to the movie, but then he looks into Derek’s tired eyes and seems to decide it’s best to follow him into the bedroom instead.

“Look, I just don’t want to think about work, what I want is to watch a stupid funny movie with my friend. That alright with you, pretty boy?” Derek asks, as he sits down on the bed and turns on the TV.

“Okay, okay!” Spencer raises his arms in mock defeat and smiles at Derek.

“So, anything you wanna watch on here?” Derek flips through Netflix’s movie catalog, indecisive.

“You’re the one who wanted to watch a movie, you pick.”

“Hey, if you keep the attitude I’ll make you sit through an Adam Sandler movie!” Derek threatens.

Spencer laughs and takes the remote from Derek’s hand.

“Let’s watch Valentine's Day.”

That takes Derek by surprise, he turns to give Spencer an inquisitive look.

“Didn’t think you were a big romantic comedy guy.”

“J.J says it's one of the best romance movies out there." Spencer says confidently.

"I think J.J just likes to look at Ashton Kutcher." 

"She says it will help me understand romance, according to her, it's a good case study of several different types of relationships."

Why J.J and Spencer would be discussing romance is beyond him, and, even though he wants to figure out how they could’ve gotten to that topic, Derek decides it's better not to push it.

“Okay then, boy genius, Ashton Kutcher it is.” Derek says, settling onto the bed, close to Spencer.

Throughout the movie, Derek mostly watches Spencer, the kid seems to be studying it as if it were a documentary.

As the credits finally roll Derek turns to Spencer.

"So did it help you 'understand romance'?" he questions.

"I don't know, maybe you were right and J.J just likes Ashton Kutcher" Spencer looks slightly defeated, it seems like he didn’t get whatever it was he wanted out of the movie.

"Why did she say you needed to learn about romance anyway?"

"It's just, we were talking about relationships and I said that-" Spencer trails off, he seems embarrassed.

"Come on, kid," Derek gives him a playful pat on the shoulder "I'm not gonna judge you."

"I've never kissed anyone, okay? It’s embarrassing, the average age for first kisses is 15, and I’m 24," Spencer looks down and continues "I mean, can you imagine? When someone finally decides they want to kiss me, I'm going to be so bad they won't ever want to do it again." 

He fidgets with the hem of his shirt, trying his best not to look Derek in the eyes.

"Although it won't matter because no one is ever going to want to kiss me." He finishes, looking defeated and small. Not at all like the confident genius with 3 PhDs that Derek is so used to.

"Now, that is the single dumbest thing I have ever heard come out of that pretty mouth of yours," Derek puts a hand on Spencer's shoulder "come on now, you're the genius, right? You know that, statistically or whatever, what you said isn't true, you're gonna find someone who won't give a shit about who you have or haven't kissed."

"Every statistic has outliers," Spencer mutters, "and besides, if you were going out with a girl and you kissed her and she was awful at it, would you go out with her again?" He finally meets Derek’s eyes, expecting a reply.

“If I really like the girl, I don’t care about experience, which is exactly what’s gonna happen when you find the right person.” Derek tries his best to sound reassuring.

“There are over 7.5 billion people on Earth, finding that right person is practically impossible. They probably don’t even live in the U.S.”

“Come on, kid, where’s your positive attitude?” Derek tries unsuccessfully to cheer him up.

They sit quietly for a few seconds, and Derek can see that Spencer seems to want to say something, he keeps looking at Derek, opening his mouth, then closing it and looking away.

“Blurt it out, kid, what is it?” 

“Well-” Spencer bites his bottom lip “You know, I already have all the theoretical knowledge, I've read over a dozen books on relationships, dating, kissing and intercourse. I just don’t have the practical experience.” Spencer pauses, hesitating, and looks into Derek’s eyes.

Derek gets impatient “Okay? So, what’s your point?”

“You have practical experience.” Spencer blurts out.

It suddenly clicks for Derek, “You want me to kiss you?” he says, eyes widening.

“Yes! It’s for educational purposes, I mean, how else am I going to learn?” Spencer practically begs “Come on Derek, it’s the perfect solution and you’re the perfect teacher: you have all the experience and, most importantly, you’re my friend, so I trust you.” 

Spencer looks down, fidgeting and continues, “I don’t think I could do this with anyone else, you’re the one I’m the most comfortable with.” He finally confesses quietly.

Derek softens, he finds Spencer’s sweet hazel eyes and realizes that he doesn’t really have a choice, he has to make sure his pretty boy has the best possible first experience, if he says no the kid might find some rando who wouldn’t fully respect him. 

"Okay." Derek whispers.

“Okay? So you’ll teach me?” Spencer can’t hide his bubbly excitement.

"Sure, who needs Ashton Kutcher? I'll be your personal love guru." Derek laughs and puts his arm around Spencer. “Let’s get this kissing mentorship started!”

Spencer laughs, but starts to get nervous again “So, we’re doing this now?” Derek can feel him tensing up under his arm.

Derek sits up on the bed and faces Spencer, getting serious "Hey, relax, it's just kissing, right? If you wanna stop anytime all you have to do is say the word and we're done, no judgment, okay?" Derek tries to use his most reassuring voice, he wants his boy genius to be as comfortable and relaxed as possible.

Spencer shyly nods.

"Spencer, I'm gonna need some verbal confirmation that you want to do this, okay? I don't want to do anything that could make you uncomfortable"

After saying this, Derek sees Spencer’s shoulders finally relax, he raises his head, meets Derek's eyes, and smiles.

"I trust you. Let's do this, master Yoda!"

Derek rolls his eyes but laughs, glad that Spencer is more relaxed, and seems to be getting excited for this, eyeing Derek expectantly, but looking a little lost with what he’s supposed to do next.

Derek takes the lead, taking a moment to look into Spencer’s shiny soft eyes before leaning in very slowly, in case the kid decides to back out at any point, but Spencer doesn’t, instead, he leans in and meets Derek halfway.

Spencer is clumsy, at first, but seems to get the hang of it pretty quickly. Soon enough, they find their rhythm and the kiss becomes slow but sweet.

When they part, Derek can’t explain how such an innocent kiss has left him so breathless.

Spencer also seems to have lost some of his composure. They’re both quiet for a few seconds, until Spencer asks “So, how would you rate my performance?”

“You want me to rate you?” Derek raises an eyebrow.

“Yes, on a scale from one to ten, also, if you could give any feedback, it would be much appreciated!” Spencer says, eager.

“Kid, kissing isn’t about ratings or feedback, it’s just about what feels good, emotions and all that sappy bullshit.”

“But, it’s a skill, how am I going to improve without feedback?” Spencer asks a little frantic.

“Look, we can practice again another time, alright?” Derek squeezes Spencer’s shoulder.

“I should get going, it’s pretty late.” Derek gets up from the bed quickly, but when he looks at Spencer he thinks he can see, for just a brief moment, a look of disappointment in the kid’s eyes.

“Yeah, sure, you’re right, it’s late.” Spencer follows him into the living room.

Derek opens the front door and waves a very awkward goodbye at Spencer, getting into his car as quickly as possible. As soon as he sees Spencer closing the door, Derek rests his head on the wheel and lets out a long pained sigh. 

That kiss definitely shouldn’t have felt so good.

**Author's Note:**

> Both the title of the fanfic and the chapter title are from Richard Siken poems.


End file.
